Synopsis: Eita is entering high school with the goal of getting into the National University School of Medicine. With this goal in mind, and the fact that his parents are divorced, he decides to completely disregard anything about love. One day, the popular school beauty Masuzu enters his life by proposing he enters a fake romantic relationship with her or else she will reveal his secret chuunibyou past. His new life of playing the fake boyfriend now begins.

The HighlightsPredictable: Boringly predictable plot.Harem: Flimsy basis for the harem, resulting in a stagnant story.Characters: Unsympathetic or idiotic.

No need to beat around the bush – Oreshura is an absolutely shameful display of the most atrocious qualities of light novels and harem comedies. It brings absolutely nothing new to the table and only recycles the various clichés we have encountered over the years among its ilk. Making matters worse is its awful execution of events and the sheer banality of its plot and characters. While a story is not necessarily bad just because it relies on the familiar, Oreshura shows exactly why it can be such a disastrous decision.

The utter predictability of the show is one of its most fundamental issues. We all knew that despite Eita’s proclamations of hating love in story that he would ultimately develop feelings for his blackmailer Masuzu, and Masuzu for Eita. Moreover, this obviously would result in the jealousy of the various girls surrounding Eita, hence the harem setup. Oreshura falls into the trap of creating a flimsy basis for the harem in the first place. The entire blackmailing plot is predicated on the idea that the main character is too stupid to figure out a way out of his situation – that is if you could even call the journal of his former chuunibyou inflicted self a big deal. Ultimately the story is unable to diversify and be unique, because if the status quo is ever broken, then the story ends.

Unfortunately, Oreshura has nothing it can fall back on. Its production is completely forgettable because of its lackluster direction and average visuals. All the humor is extremely repetitive and elicits almost no laughter. Lastly, the characters are either outright stupid or downright unsympathetic. Masuzu epitomizes the problems with the cast the best; despite being a complete bitch who acts in extremely contradictory manners with regard to her hate of love, the show still expects the audience to sympathize with Masuzu. Suffice to say, such an expectation is completely asinine and illogical.

There is nothing inherently wrong with harem comedies. These sorts of stories are fully capable of being fun little romps that one does not need to think especially hard about. However, the fact of the matter is that Oreshura does not have to be this terrible. By phoning it in in the worst of manners, Oreshura fails to be anything other than generic; its most distinguishing quality is its lack of distinguishing qualities. Consequently, the show cannot even serve as remotely satisfying comfort food material. Oreshura is a dreadful and idiotic anime that best be avoided if you do not want a regrettable and forgettable experience.